Jozef Kaban, Designer of Bugatti Veyron, Named New BMW Head of Design

[Jason]

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Jozef Kaban, Designer of Bugatti Veyron, Named New BMW Head of Design

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BMW has named Jozef Kaban, Skoda's Chief of Design, to fill the position previously held by Karim Habib as the head of design for the the core BMW brand. Kaban will assume this position in the second half of the year.

Currently 44 years of age, Kaban made a name for himself early when he designed the Bugatti Veyron while still in his 20s. He was named chief of Skoda design at 35 after being head of exterior design at sister brand Audi.

In other BMW design personnel news, Domagoj Dukec, 41, will take over design responsibilities for the BMW M and i brands. Dukec has been with BMW since 2010 where he has been involved in exterior design for the BMW brand and, most recently, BMW i design. He penned the Concept Active Tourer.

Official press release announcement:

February 8, 2017. Munich. The BMW Group introduced its new design team under Chief Designer Adrian van Hooydonk. Jozef Kabaň will be responsible for design for the core BMW brand, while Domagoj Dukec will head the design team for BMW i and BMW M vehicles.

Jozef Kabaň, 44, from Slovakia, joins the BMW Group design team after holding various positions in the Volkswagen Group. Domagoj Dukec, 41, has been with the BMW Group since 2010, where his responsibilities have included exterior design for the BMW brand and, most recently, BMW i design.

“I am looking forward to this strengthening of the BMW Group design team,” said Adrian van Hooydonk. “Both Jozef Kabaň and Domagoj Dukec bring the experience, talent and vision we need for the future direction of our design.”

Karim Habib, who was responsible for BMW brand design, had previously left the company of his own accord. “We naturally respect Karim Habib’s decision and wish him every success in his new business endeavours,” added Adrian van Hooydonk.


Jozef Kaban




Domagoj Dukec

[GuidoK]

I sure don't hope any skoda influences make it into bmw's

[cbertels]

: Agreed! To my eye most look like uglier VWs.

[autopal]

Interesting! He certainly made a name for himself with the Bugatti, but head of Audi exterior design? Isn't Audi's design the most bland and uninspiring of all the luxury brands?

[BEM-S4]

It's gotta be pretty cool to be able to send in a photo of a Veyron in lieu of a resume.

[DRTMGRT]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

I sure don't hope any skoda influences make it into bmw's

yeah +1

The only thing I've seen as far as skoda's recent concepts are the well proportioned SUVs. so that'll be good for the X lines.

[michal12]

I think the info is part incorrect. Kaban was overall head of Skoda design, not 'just' the exterior.
His work for Skoda has definitely been very successful.

[desertfox73]

I think it'll all boil down to the company philosophy toward design. If BMW lets these guys run, we might see something pretty amazing. If they basically say "build this", it won't work.

Audi might not have the best designs across their platforms, and they do tend to all look alike, but the R8 and A5/S5/RS5 are some of the most beautiful cars I've seen on the road.

[deemo319]

Originally Posted by autopal

Interesting! He certainly made a name for himself with the Bugatti, but head of Audi exterior design? Isn't Audi's design the most bland and uninspiring of all the luxury brands?

Yes.

[paul223]

Veyron is powerful ugly car.

[sharocks]

Oh God, BMW's now are gonna look like a bowl flipped over with 4 wheels attached. LORD...

[swagon]

I think the info is part incorrect. Kaban was overall head of Skoda design, not 'just' the exterior.
His work for Skoda has definitely been very successful.

Yup.

Maybe except the O3 facelift, lol.

[Levente_CSL]

salary, how much? : D probably a lot xdd

[MalibuBimmer]

Skoda, Audi, Bugatti?

Ugh.

[michal12]

Yes, that's what the internet says. But I saw the facelifted O3 yesterday and in the rearview mirror it looks pretty purposeful with LED daylights on.. So not bad I think.

Originally Posted by swagon

Yup.

Maybe except the O3 facelift, lol.

[Xtabi]

I'm not a fan at all of the Veyron. Change is good though so hopefully some great designs are in the near future. Especially for the interior.

[RPiM5]

Just as long as he breaks the cycle of every class of BMW sharing too many design elements. Bring back designs that are unique for each series. As such, why do the 3-Series, 5-Series, 7-Series, X-Series, etc... need to all have the floating iDrive screen design? Why can't one or two of them be different? Or why do each of the Series need to have headlights that touch the Kidney Grills? Why can't one or two be different? Lastly, the 3, 5, and 7 Series all look too similar in overall design. I'm not saying that the 5-Series should be as bold a design as the E60, but it would be better if each Series looked had one or two distinct design elements that made them easily discernible from another Series. Lastly, BMW needs to break away from the evolutionary design system and go back to revolutionary designs, where a G11 7-Series looks nothing like the F01, or the G30 looks nothing like F10.

I think it would be a good thing if future BMW's had some design influence from such cars as the Bugatti Chiron, etc... as I am sure it there would be a visually striking difference between them and the current G-Series BMW's.

[M-POWERED-]

His latest job
Poor future BMWs

[AKRAPOVICOWNS]

I think a lot of people will miss Karim habib. The next 6/8, z5, 3 series and x7 will still be his work. Let's see.

I can't think of one manufacturer that has worse designs than skoda.

The Bugatti veyron its as fast as it was ugly, granted, it was more of aerodynamics and function on top of design, but there's no excuse for the skodas. Just plain ugly.

Good luck Bmw.

[Raheem]

Originally Posted by M-POWERED-

His latest job
Poor future BMWs

Let's atleast give him a chance. Skoda design language is very different to BMW design language.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by M-POWERED-

His latest job
Poor future BMWs

Really? THAT monstrosity? Good lord, look at those headlights. They look like a Russian Lada tack-on job ...

'Skoda' and 'innovative design' have been used in the same sentence exactly never in the history of ever.

Nice job, BMW. Good luck with this hack. I'll be moving on.

[Deluxx3]

It's about to be a bland fest for the next few years until he leaves

And people were complaining about Habib leaving even though he designed the M2 and GC's...

But let's not abondon ship yet, let's see what he comes up with! Fingers crossed and hopes are high.